Charge Hurts Aol Bottom Line

BRIEFCASE

November 8, 1996

America Online Inc., the nation's largest online computer service, said Thursday it lost a hefty $353.7 million in its latest quarter after taking a huge one-time charge for marketing costs. Without the charge, the company would have earned $19 million. In the same quarter last year, the company lost $10.9 million, or 14 cents a share. Revenue jumped 77 percent to $349.9 million from $197.9 million as the company sharply increased its number of subscribers to 6.9 million and drew more advertisers to its service. AOL introduced an expensive marketing blitz and a new flat-rate price in a bid to stem the defection of customers. Other earnings, B-5.